


The Accountant

by orphan_account



Series: Batman/Superman Office!AU [6]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Superman - All Media Types, Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, F/M, Humor, Little bit of angst, M/M, Pranking, Sexual Harassment, Some Crack, people can't express feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-16
Updated: 2016-03-16
Packaged: 2018-05-27 02:01:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6265249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An Office!AU that explores the lives of the employees of Kent-Wayne Industries.</p><p>Name: Tim Drake<br/>Age: 25<br/>Occupation: Junior Accountant<br/>Likes: working hard, coffee<br/>Dislikes: hostile work environments, messy desks<br/>Number of Days Without a Work-Related Injury: 19<br/>Last Work-Related Injury: ran into the wall of his cubicle while (allegedly!) watching Conner eat a lollipop</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Accountant

**Author's Note:**

> Multiple people have been asking about Tim and Conner, and I would like to thank those people for their patience :)
> 
> UPDATE: [My Tumblr](http://burningice2.tumblr.com/)

**I. The Presentation**

Tim took pride in his work. He firmly believed that all of his accomplishments were what got him to this point, what got him his job at Kent-Wayne Industries. Every chance he got to jump on an extra task or another project Tim took, because he wanted to show Bruce and Clark that he was deserving of a promotion, another chance to do better.

Last night, Kate had emailed him asking for help. She needed to budget a charity event for Bruce, and she wanted Tim to help her, but he would have to come into work the following morning at six. He agreed without a second thought and was on the road by five-thirty. Kate had thanked him for coming in on such short notice, but he had assured her that it was no problem and that she could contact him any time she needed assistance.

He would be lying if he said that he didn’t feel kind of important being alone in a conference room with Bruce, Clark, their sons, and Kate, preparing to present what they could afford to spend on the event. They prepared another chart, just in case, if Bruce wanted to go a little over budget and make cutbacks in other areas, but Bruce’s money management was practically immaculate. It never hurt to be over-prepared.

Pleasantries were exchanged; Clark asked Kate how she and Maggie were holding up with their new baby, Oliver, and practically begged her to bring him to the office one day. Bruce had asked Tim if Kate fooling around on the job; he was sure Bruce liked him, but no one could ever tell with Bruce. Damian was content to ignore him and Kate, on his phone the entire time.

And then there was Conner.

This guy had an agenda against Tim. Any opportunity that presented itself, Conner would use to piss him the fuck off. Tim considered himself to be a pretty decent guy, not too hard to please, and relatively easy to get along with. Sure, he was a little more irritable than others, but it was very rare that somebody annoyed him to the point that he was fighting back a scowl.

This happened around Conner so much that his jaw would begin to ache if they were forced into the same room for long periods of time. Then Conner would joke about other ways he could make Tim’s jaw ache…

Conner’s physical appearance was definitely pleasing to the eye; his broad shoulders, thick arms, and tall height made girls and boys foam at the mouth, and Tim hated that he fell into that category when it came to someone as obnoxious as Conner Kent. In moments of weakness he found himself indulging Conner: when he put one of those gorgeous arms around him at work parties, or brushed his ass on the cramped elevator, or managed to grab his hand, hold it for a moment whenever they crossed paths.

Never in a million years would Tim admit to anyone that he secretly craved those moments.

Kate gave the presentation; letting Tim sit in had been a favor. Clark smiled and nodded throughout, while Bruce’s face remained impassive. Tim could feel the steely gaze of Conner from across the conference table, but he focused his sight solely on Kate. Nothing was going to break his concentration.

_Except for the foot that was rubbing against his ankle, slow and teasing._

Tim dared to look.

That was a mistake.

He swore he hated Conner with every fiber of his being and had spent a lunch break or two plotting how he would throw him from the top floor of the office building. But when those intense, _hungry,_ eyes held his gaze, Tim felt himself being pulled into the trap that was Conner Kent, and he had to remind himself that it was because he was Conner Kent that he couldn’t let this happen. It was just yesterday when he caught Conner making out with the a marketing intern in one of the empty cubicles, and he swore that he and Jason should have a contest to see who’s pen had run dry from too much dipping in the company ink.

He tried ignoring Conner, even though he knew from experience that would only encourage him to keep pushing until he got the reaction out of Tim he wanted. The pressure of Conner’s shoe against his ankle was gone after a minute of that rubdown, but Tim flinched when he felt a sock-covered foot making its way up his leg.

_Oh, no._

Yup, it was crawling up there and showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. The second mistake of the day was when Tim decided to look at Conner again, and _Christ,_ his eyes were so _fucking_ intense, like burning embers. Tim’s mouth _may_ have opened slightly and his cock _may_ have stirred in his work pants, but he wasn’t confirming either of those.

What he could confirm was that as soon as Conner’s foot reached his inner thigh and _grazed_ his dick, Tim had leapt up from his seat, emitting the most embarrassing whine as he did so. The only way that could have been worse would be if his pants had pitched a tent, but the universe had decided that this form of public humiliation was enough for one day.

“Tim?” Kate looked mortified at Tim’s freak out. She was still standing at the front of the room with her slideshow on the projector.

“Sorry,” Tim squeaked.

Damian was observing him like he was a bug that had landed in the middle of his television screen, read to reproach his behavior for having interrupted his texting.

Little prick.

And Tim was resenting the shit out of Conner who looked so relaxed, even _concerned_ over his outburst, because how was Conner so easily masking the desire Tim saw moments ago with a surprised façade? Meanwhile, he was biting his lip, trying not to think about what could have happened if he let Conner’s foot travel higher.

All Tim could do was sit back down and try to control his breathing as he fought against his feelings of loathing and _momentary_ lust. That was the key word, because as soon as it had appeared it was gone.

And Tim was back to hating life.

 

 

 

**II. The Erotica Email**

Just because Tim had a sense of propriety in the workplace, didn’t mean that others did, and the environment had become even rowdier now that Bruce had moved his core team onto the fourteenth floor so that they could all work closer together. Bruce seemed to regret the decision the moment he made it. It made goofing around a whole lot easier and more often. 

At least Gross Daryl wasn’t around as much.

And speaking of gross….

“Hey.” Tim poked his head over his cubicle where Cassie had moved last week. “What the _hell_ is sitting in my inbox?”

Cassie looked up from whatever she was typing with a disinterested expression. “The Erotica Email. It’s your turn to fill it out.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. All I know is that there is _porn_ in my inbox and that is not work appropriate—”

“Tim, yesterday you tripped Conner when he stepped off the elevator.”

He glared at her. “After he grabbed my ass.”

“My point is you’ve had your own hostile work environment moments.” She went back to typing, obviously done with the conversation. “Add on to the story, then send it to Damian.”

“No.”

“Don’t be a wet blanket. Now, go away. I have to be on a call in five minutes.”

Tim resigned himself to his fate and reopened the email Cassie had sent. There were those foul words that were most likely going to haunt him for the rest of the workday, linking together to form obscene sentences that were obviously meant to sexually excite the reader but were leaving Tim aggravated, because he didn’t know how many people he worked with that were unaware of how to correctly use a semicolon, until now.

The instructions Cassie had sent explained that the highlighted part was what she wrote and Tim could only read that portion of the story before adding his own. One his entry was complete, he was to send the email to the next person on the list, who was Damian. He wasn’t surprised to see that this erotica email bullshit was started by Wally.

Against his better judgment, Tim read:

_Will’s pearlescent sperm sprinkled Jack’s abs—_

Oh, Jesus Christ, was this Pirates of the Caribbean porn?

_His pulsing, pink cock rubbed across Jack’s happy trail as he rode out his orgasm—_

Nope. Nope.

_He trailed his finger through the stream of semen, bringing it to his lips as he delicately flicked his tongue—_

This was _not_ happening. Not only was this written terribly—not that he’d ever tell Cassie—but Tim didn’t have it in him to add anything to this…trash. Maybe it didn’t have to be anything erotic. All Cassie said was that he needed to add to the story, so as long as the narrative flowed it should be fine. She also never mentioned how much he needed to add, so Tim decided that one sentence would have to do.

_The bell above deck alerted Jack and Will to the enemy’s presence, so they dressed and hurried on deck._

It was brief and not given much thought, but Tim was tired of seeing that on his computer screen, and he started to fear that one of the managers or, god forbid, Bruce or Clark would stop by his cubicle and need him. Needless to say, he let out a huge sigh of relief when he hit send.

Not even half a minute later, Tim’s cell phone rang, Damian’s name displayed on the screen; Tim answered it. “Hello?”

“ _Pervert!”_

 

 

 

 

**III. The Sexual Harassment Seminar**

“It has come to Bruce and Clark’s attention that this particular group of people has had a problem with understanding what constitutes as sexual harassment and why it is not tolerated at the office,” Barbara began sullenly. Tim noticed her gaze resting longer on Jason and Conner. “So I have suggested that you all attend this sexual harassment seminar. Hopefully after this, I will be seeing you guys less in my office.”

“That’s not likely,” Tim muttered to Bart who shrugged in response.

“It’s not so bad.”

“No, it isn’t when you’re having sex with the person you’re sexually harassing.” As if she could hear their conversation, Cassie gave a flirty wave to Bart from across the room. Tim almost vomited when Bart dared to blow her a kiss.

“Conner, could you give me an appropriate response to a coworker who just turned you down for a date?” Barbara asked.

Tim snorted. “He wouldn’t take no for an answer,” he whispered to Bart.

“Conner likes to goof around, but he’s a good guy.”

“I doubt that.”

“Tim,” Bart said a little stiffly. “I’ve known Conner since college. Trust me, he wouldn’t do anything with anybody who wouldn't give consent.”

What sucked was that Tim knew that was true. Even though Conner pissed him off to no end, he could be a good guy. He always greeted new hires and interns, treated those below him with respect, and was intoxicating presence whenever it graced a room.

“I’ve seen the way you look at him,” Bart continued their quiet conversation while Barbara started listing places in the office where people had reported traces of semen— _fuck, he worked with a bunch of pigs._ “I know you like him. And I can say with much confidence that he feels the same way.”

After a sharp intake of breath Tim said, “He plays around with me.”

“Like you do with him?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Tim…” Bart sounded exasperated. “He’s testing your limits, feeling you out. He can’t figure out what it is you want from him. Sure, he puts up a façade, but he’s just trying to protect himself. He’s a really sensitive guy.”

“What do you know?” Tim snapped, feeling attacked. “Maybe I’m trying to protect _myself_. Ever thought of that?”

“Look, Tim…A few years ago, Kon and Cassie were going through a rough patch. They agreed to take a break for a while. He thought that after they cooled off for a bit, things would go back to the way they were. But instead…”

And that was the moment Tim felt like the world’s biggest asshole. “You guys realized you had feelings for each other.”

“She never cheated,” Bart explained, “but it didn’t matter. I was his friend, and I should have been there for him. Instead I got with his girlfriend. It’s water under the bridge, but he’s been protective of his heart ever since. I ruined him, and after all that, he still wanted to be my friend. That’s why you should give him a chance.”

For his entire life, Tim had refrained from trying to like the person who had it all. And the weight of the realization that Conner didn’t have it all hit him like a train. Part of him still cringed that he found Conner’s antics charming.

“Tim.” Still huddled together, Tim and Bart turned their heads to the front of the conference room where Barbara stood with her arms crossed. “The least you could do is pay attention since your sexual harassment complaints against Conner are one of the reasons why I’m hosting this.”

“Barbara,” Clark coughed awkwardly.

She waved him off. “Everyone already knew, Clark.” Clark looked ashamed to call Conner his son. “If you need incentive to pay attention,” Barbara continued, “how about you and Conner come to the front and role-play a scenario?”

Bart burst out laughing when she said role-play.

Tim wanted to die.

 

 

 

 

 **IV.** **The Employee of the Month**

“What’s that?”

Tim looked at the framed piece of paper on his desk that Jason was pointing to. “I’m the employee of the month.”

“Since fucking when?”

“Since the end of the month.”

“This has never been a thing,” Jason protested. “Since when was this a thing?”

“Since two months ago!” Cassie shouted from her own cubicle. “You would know this if you didn’t spend half the work day intoxicated and showed up to the group meetings.”

“Whatever,” Jason scoffed. “You know that you shouldn’t be as excited about that as you are, right? We aren’t teenagers working at a Burger King.”

Tim knew that Jason was right; he shouldn’t be so worked up over an employee of the month award, but he was a sucker for having his hard work acknowledged. However, if Jason making snide remarks every time he walked past his desk was going to be a regular occurrence, then he supposed he could keep the award in his desk.

“Hey, look.” From behind Jason stood Kara and Conner who had just come back from the break room with cups of coffee. “So it was you who took that award from under my nose,” Kara teased. “Congrats, Tim.”

“People watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians in their cubicle don’t get an employee of the month award,” Jason said matter of fact.

“Neither do people who sleep with the Lex Corp employees,” Kara shot back.

“I’ve been back with Dick for weeks, so your point is invalid.”

“Congratulations,” Conner said to Tim. “You deserve it.”

Yes, Tim knew that it was a stupid piece of paper, and he was a loser for bothering to frame it. Tim definitely knew that his ears shouldn’t be turning red at Conner’s praise over said stupid piece of paper.

“All of you losers better watch out!” Jason announced to the floor. People poked their heads out of their cubicles to hear what he was yelling about. “That employee of the month award is mine!”

 

 

 

 

**V. The Prank**

“I really must protest.”

Steph sighed dramatically. “Tim,” she moaned in the insufferable way a child would after being told no. “You are the office buzz kill.”

“Oh. Then I guess you guys won’t be needing this superglue.” Tim held up the bottle in front of Steph and Cass’ wide eyes. “You see, while you amateurs were going to hide everything in Jason’s office around the building, I was thinking that we could just superglue everything in place. But I’m a buzz kill, so I guess I’ll just throw this out—”

“Timothy Jackson Drake, don’t you dare,” Steph warned.

“I have to admit, I’m impressed,” Cass said, taking the superglue from Tim. “You are no longer the most boring person in this office.”

“Great,” Tim said unenthusiastically. “Who is it now?”

“Clark,” Cass replied without hesitation. “The guy is always so happy, and there’s never any good gossip floating around about him. He’s a nice guy, just boring.”

Steph wrapped her arms around Cass’ neck. “You’re the best girlfriend for agreeing to pay back my mean partner with me. He’s always stealing my lunch from the break room.”

Cass returned the hug by wrapping an arm around her waist, but replied, “You’re forgetting that he hijacked my presentation to Bruce’s board. They ended up learning a lot about genital herpes.”

“What did he do to you?” Steph asked Tim.

“He drew penises on some finance sheets I had printed.”

And when Jason returned to work the next day after a conference in New York to find everything in his office was immobile, screaming expletives at everyone who dared to look him in the face, Tim may have been smiling to himself for the entire day.

 

 

 

 

**VI. The Office Party**

“I would like to thank you all for your hard work this month. It was a tough deal to work out, but you guys really pulled through. Nobody else would have volunteered extra time on the weekends, and I’m very grateful for all of you. Most of you have been family since before you started working here.”

“What Brue is trying to say,” Clark interrupted, wrapping an arm around his husband’s waist, “is that we love all of you very much. Cheers!”

The sound of champagne glasses clinking echoed around the office, and Tim gladly chugged down his entire drink in one gulp because he could spot Conner from across the room making his way toward him. Shit, his fucking suite made him look _amazing._

“Tim,” he greeted in an oddly professional manner. “Slow day, am I right?”

No horrendous pick-up line.

Interesting.

“Yeah,” Tim replied with caution. “Everyone was looking forward to the free booze at the end of the day.”

“If you want, I could offer you more free booze at my apartment.”

There it was.

“As tempting as drinking expensive booze at your gaudy penthouse sounds, I’ll have to pass.”

“I never said I lived in a penthouse.”

“Where _do_ you live?” Tim asked with genuine curiosity. He assumed that it was somewhere close to Kent-Wayne Industries, because they were located next to one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in downtown Gotham.

“There’s an up and coming neighborhood around Third and Vale. Definitely pricy for most, but you won’t find celebrities in the area.”

He had only one drink, but Tim was going to argue that it was the champagne that made him swallow his pride. “I apologize for jumping to conclusions. If you don’t mind me asking, why not live on First and Main? You could definitely afford it.”

Conner actually smiled at the question. “My entire life wasn’t spent at Wayne Manor. My mom had me when she and my dad were seventeen. She wanted to backpack across Europe after high school. She couldn’t decide whether she was going to abort me or give me away, but my dad’s parents agreed to help raise me. I grew up on their farm while my dad went to college in St. Louis. He had a full scholarship, worked all through college, had an internship, and was able to save up enough money to move us to Gotham where he was offered a job right out of college working for a business firm.”

Now that the subject had been brought up, Tim realized that he never knew how Clark and Bruce met. He wondered if anyone knew, because Bruce and Clark were very adamant about keeping their personal lives private.

“My dad and I hadn’t even lived in the city for a year when he and Bruce met. He was trying to figure out how to run his parents’ company and be a parent to Damian. He had only known about him for maybe two years and had just won full custody after having Damian travel back and forth between Gotham and Europe. Once they got serious, we moved in with them and my dad accepted a job at Bruce’s company. When they got married, Bruce’s wedding gift was changing the company’s name to include my dad’s.”

“Wow.”

“I also still spend parts of the summer at my grandparents’ farm. You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy.”

“Conner…” For the first time, he was allowing Tim to see beyond the barrier he had built to protect himself from getting hurt again, and it was drawing Tim in without the usual hesitation that accompanied the pull. Without the hesitation, Tim felt that he could bring down his walls in return. “I understand. That need for simplicity.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m the son of Jack Drake.”

“ _The_ Jack Drake?” Conner’s eyes bulged out of his head. “Dude, your dad is the CEO of Drake Tech!”

“Yeah, I know,” Tim said bitterly, “and nobody let me forget it. My parents divorced when I was six, and my mom moved to the suburbs. I was with my dad every other weekend, but even then it was rare that I got to spend much time with him. He’s a workaholic. When I was fifteen, my mom died from cancer, and I moved back to the city to live with my dad and his new wife.”

“I’m sorry, Tim,” Conner said with genuine sympathy. Tim welcomed the way his eyes seemed to envelop him with his rapt attention.

“It’s fine.” Of course it wasn’t, but it was the response he reached for whenever anyone apologized for his mother’s death. “I learned how to adapt to my dad’s expectations. He has a little bit of a temper, so it was best to just do what he said or else you’d be on receiving end of a rampage.”

Conner’s eyes narrowed. “Did he hurt you?”

“Oh, no! Never. Just anger management issues. He’d yell himself hoarse. After being mostly raised by my mom, I wasn’t used to having everything handed to me, and my dad didn’t get that. I got a full scholarship to college, but my dad didn’t know why I was set on that; he could afford to pay my tuition for twenty years worth of college. It was expected that I’d work for him after I graduated, but instead I chose to apply here for a paid internship, which eventually lead to me getting hired.”

“Whoa, Tim.”

“Yeah. My dad thought if he cut me off financially then I’d go back home, but I had found roommates to live with while I had the internship. After having the job for about a year, I was able to move afford living alone near Fifth and Klein. I also drive my mom’s old car. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I have judged you wrong…and I might like the real Conner.” He felt the blush come to his face and wished that he hadn’t drank all his champagne.

“Well, I obviously like you, too,” Conner teased, but Tim saw the sincerity in his eyes, so he decided to take a leap.

“Then I might just have to take you up on your offer to have another glass of champagne at your apartment.”

Conner looked shocked for a moment, but then a smile graced his face—a _real_ smile, not the lascivious smirk Tim was used to. “Didn’t take you for the fast moving type.”

“I can be,” Tim admitted, “but not when it comes to people I like. A lot.”

“And do you like me? A lot?” Conner asked. The hopeful look on his face warmed Tim’s heart.

“Yeah,” Tim said quietly, unconsciously drifting closer to Conner. “If you wouldn’t mind,” he continued, taking one of Conner’s hands in the one that wasn’t holding his empty glass, “I would like to meet you at your apartment after this for drinks. Just drinks.”

“Why wait? Let’s ditch.”

“But your dad—”

“—won’t mind. Besides,” Conner chuckled, “he looks pretty occupied.” Tim looked where Conner was pointing and saw that Clark had pulled Bruce onto his lap and was nuzzling his shoulder in affection. “Follow me to my place in your car?”

Tim squeezed Conner’s hand—a promise. “I’d love to.”


End file.
